This invention relates to ultrasonic diagnostic imaging systems and, in particular, to portable ultrasound systems which power-up rapidly to an operating condition.
In today""s efficiently run hospitals, the portability of an ultrasound system enables the system to be used in more than one lab or department. An ultrasound system can be used in radiology for most of the time and wheeled into the obstetrics department or delivery room when needed for an obstetrical exam, for instance. Portability also enables an ultrasound system to be used at the patient""s bedside so that, instead of moving a patient to the ultrasound lab, the ultrasound system is moved to the patient, which is important in diagnosing many critically ill patients. Frequently, medical emergencies will necessitate that the ultrasound system be moved quickly and the examination commenced at once at the new location. An impediment to such speed and convenience is the necessity to turn off the conventional ultrasound system through a time-consuming shutdown sequence before it can be unplugged and moved. This delay is repeated at the new location when it is necessary to power up the ultrasound system through a complex and time-consuming boot-up procedure. Accordingly it would be desirable to avoid these time-consuming steps so that the ultrasound system can be relocated immediately and be ready to scan instantly at the new location.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system is described which can be turned off quickly and restarted and be ready for scanning in a matter of seconds. This is accomplished by allowing a processor and/or memory within the system to remain active even when the system is xe2x80x9cturned off.xe2x80x9d When the system is turned off the state of the system is minimally preserved in either volatile or nonvolatile memory so that the system can restart without having to sequence through an entire bootup procedure. In a preferred embodiment the processor has a battery backup, enabling the processor to remain active even when the ultrasound system is unplugged and being moved. When the ultrasound system arrives at its destination, diagnosis can begin at once.